ExamPreparationTechniques

ExamPreparation Therearenoeasypathwaysfordoingwellinexamsatthislevel.Allstudentswhodowellinexams willhaveworkedveryhardfortheirsuccessalthoughmostofthemwon'tadmittoit! Sometimesstudentsdoworkveryhardbutarenotrewardedwiththeresultsthattheyreceive.In somecasesthereasonsforthiscanbethatsuchstudentshavepoorexampreparationtechniques and/or poor exam techniques. Below are some things which have worked well for me when preparing for exams. You will need to realise that things which work well for me may not necessarilyworkwellforyou.Generallyyouwillneedtoexperimenttofindoutwhatworksbest foryou. APlan/TimetablefortheStudyandExamPeriod I have a timetable for this period. I have clearly marked on it when each of my exams occurs, makingsurethatIhaveindicatedcorrectlywhetheritisamorningoranafternoonexam.Ihadto decideuponthedailystructureofmyrevisionprogramme.Idecidedtohavethreestudysessions perday.Amorningandanafternoonslot,eachofabout2.5hours,andaneveningslotofabout2 hours.ThereareplacesonthetimetablewhichIfilledinimmediately.E.g.,ifIhaveanafternoon exam, then that morning will be allocated for that subject. Then the rest of the timetable was filledinworkingbackwardsfromtheexamtonow.ImadesurethatIwasfairinallocatingmytime tomysubjects.Iavoidedallocatingadisproportionateamountoftimetomyfavouritesubject(s). Iampreparedtomakechangestomytimetableastheneedarises.Themostimportantthingis thatIdohaveawelldefinedstudyschedulelaidoutinfrontofmeforthestudyandexamperiod. WhentoStudy Youwillneedtofindoutwhichtimeofthedayisbestforyoutodoyourstudyandwhichtimeof the day is not very effective. I know that for me, the best study time is in the morning from 8.30am to 11.30am. I plan to study in the afternoon from 2.30pm to 5.30pm and then 2 more hoursafterdinner.Idonotintendtostudylateatnight.Iwanttogetintoagoodsleepingpattern whichwillbewellestablishedfortheexamdays. Itisimportantthatinordertokeepfreshyouhaveplannedsomeotheractivitiesduringtheday. ThemiddleofthedayismyleasteffectivestudytimeandsoIhaveleftthreehourstodoother things.InthistimeeachdayIhaveplannedsomephysicalactivity,perhapsarun,orabikeride,or aswim,orevenjustabriskwalkaroundtheblock!Somedailyphysicalexerciseisimportantover thisperiodoftimewhenyouwillbespendingalotofthedaysittingatadesk. AgaintheimportantthingisthatforeachstudydayIhaveawelldefineddailyschedulelaidoutin frontofme. EffectiveStudyTime Ithinkthatthisoneisreallyimportant.IfIplantodo2hoursstudy,ItrytomakesurethatIget2 hours worth done. It is very easy to shut myself away for a couple of hours and actually only achieve1/4hourofeffectivestudybutfeelasthoughIhavedone2hoursworth.Thinkaboutit, howmanytimeshaveyousatdowntodoacoupleofhoursofhomeworkandinthattimeyou have: justhadtomake/answeranurgentphonecallto/fromafriend justheardsomethingontheTVandyoujusthadtogoandwatchfor5(?)minutes

One way of controlling how much effective study you do in a swotperiod is to break the time downintosmallerperiods.Eg,Ifyouarewantingtodoabouta2.5hourstint,thenbreakitdown into five 25 minute sections with 5minute timeouts in between. In those 25 minute sections youdonotdoanythingelse,oreventhinkaboutanythingelse,otherthantheworkinhand.This will take some practice. You attend to all those other things in the 5minute timeouts. This technique will ensure that you know exactly how much time you are spending on your study ratherthanhowmuchtimeyouthinkyouarespendingonyourstudy.Initiallyyoumayfindthat 25minutesistoolongtospendonstudywithoutabreak.Youwillknowthatitistoolongifyou persistentlycatchyourselfthinkingofotherthings.Youwillneedtoexperiment.Idon'tthinkthat onestudysectionshouldexceed50minutes. How/WhattoStudy Youwillneedtoexperimenttofindoutwhatworksbestforyou.Differentstudytechniqueswork fordifferentpeopleandoftendifferentsubjectsrequiredifferenttechniques. Ifindasummaryagoodplacetostart.IlistthetopicsIhavecoveredinasubjectjustbyheadings. ThenforeachtopicIwillmakesubheadingsoramindmap.Thistechniquegivesmeanoverview ofwhathasbeencovered.It sometimesallowsmetoseehowdifferenttopicsinasubjectare related.Forme,thistechniqueisthestarttofillinginthefinerdetail.Itrytoavoidjustrecopying notestomakethingslookpretty.Idon'tfindthataneffectiveuseofmyswottime. For the Stage I Statistics course, the majority of my revision time will be spent doing examples frompreviousexamsandtermtests.Thelastfivesemesters'examsandtermtests,withanswers, can be found on Cecil. The Student Resource Centre sells a booklet of the last three semesters' examandtermtestsfor$7.50.AlsoonCecilthereareextrasamplequestionsonBootstrapping andRandomisation.Eventhoughthereisapolicystatementforthiscoursethattheexamwillnot beradicallydifferentfromtheprevioussemesteroryear,Idoremindmyselfnottoexpecttosee exactlythosesamequestionsagainthissemester.(Sometimesstudentsbecomesofamiliarwith theprevioussemester'squestionsthattheyalmostconvincethemselvesthattheywillseethose exact same questions again. They disregard any work which is not examined in the previous semester'sexamandtheybecomedistressedwhentheymeetdifferentquestionsintheirexam.) Iseefourreasonsfordoingpreviousexamquestions.First,togivemesomeindicationofthetype ofquestionsthatwillbeaskedandtogivemepracticeatapplyingwhatIhavelearnt.Second,I amtryingtofindquestionsIcan'tdoorquestionswhereIgettheanswerwrong.Theseindicate to me areas that need more work. Third, questions can clarify and help me understand better someoftheworkthatIhavebeenstudying.Fourth,byattemptingatleastonefullexamunder examconditionsIgetpracticeatansweringquestionsfromallpartsofthecourse,notsortedby chapterandunderatimeconstraint. FormulaeSheet Youshouldbecomeveryfamiliarwiththeformulaesheetthatyouwillbegivenintheexam.Itis thesameastheformulaesheetthatisatthebackoftheLectureWorkbook.Youshouldbewell awareoftheformulaegiven,knowwheretofindthemonthesheetandknowhowtousethem. Thisisprobablythemostimportantpieceofadvicegiveninthisdocument!

justhadtogetsomethingtoeat/drink(maybeanumberoftimes) justhadtogotothetoilet spentalotofthetimejustthinkingaboutsomethingelse(thisoneisreallyeasytodo) ...andsoonitgoes.